Anthem Inc., the country’s (USA) second-biggest health insurer, said hackers broke into a database containing personal information for about 80 million of its customers and employees in what is likely to be the largest data breach disclosed by a health-care company.
Investigators are still determining the extent of the incursion, which was discovered last week, and Anthem said it is likely that “tens of millions” of records were stolen. The health insurer said the breach exposed names, birthdays, addresses and Social Security numbers but doesn’t appear to involve medical information or financial details such as credit-card or bank-account numbers, nor are there signs the data are being sold on the black market.
Anthem, which offers Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in California, New York and other states, said it doesn’t know precisely how many people may be affected. So far, it appears that the attack detected last week is the only breach of Anthem’s systems, and it isn’t yet clear how the hackers were able to obtain the identification information needed to access the database said Thomas Miller, the insurer’s chief information officer. The insurer said it would reach out to everyone whose information was stored in the hacked database with a letter and, where possible, email. It is also setting up an informational website and will offer to provide a credit-monitoring service.
Full Article
Health Insurer Anthem Hit by Hackers
+52Helpful Webroot Links: Download (PC) | Download (Best Buy Subscription) | Submit Support Ticket | Account Console | User_Guides | BrightCloud URL lookup
+56Thanks, posted here: https://community.webroot.com/t5/Techie-KB/How-to-freeze-your-credit-if-your-personal-information-is-stolen/ta-p/185738
We can always update it later if there are any changes needed.
We can always update it later if there are any changes needed.
+62Hi Jan,@ wrote:
Hey Nic..... Please feel free to use any of this information. I'm fairly sure I got the info correct and am not steering anyone wrong, but I just wrote what I experienced. If it helps anyone, I'm very happy about that. Write away!
And tnx! I wasn't expecting to become a literary celebrity! LOLOL J/K (You guys will have to get used to my weird sense of humor, sorry to say).
Jan
Just wanted to thank you for this superb article that you posted and for
Good job!! You can certainly write!:D
Good idea, Nic. I encourage anyone who can update this with better info to do so. My desk is covered with scribbled sheets of paper with arrows drawn all over, so it's possible I made a few mistakes, although I tried to get it right. I think I need a nap. heh
Thank you, Sherry! Too bad I can't come up with a plot for a novel. :D
+54This breach seems to be attracting a lot of attention of the wrong sort, there are always some people who want to capitalise off other peoples misfortune.
7th February 2015
Phishers and phone fraudsters are capitalizing on public concern over a massive data breach announced this week at health insurance provider Anthem in a bid to steal financial and personal data from consumers.
The flood of phishing scams was unleashed just hours after Anthem announced publicly that a “very sophisticated cyberattack” on its systems had compromised the Social Security information and other personal details on some 80 million Americans.
In a question on its FAQ page about whether it would be offering credit monitoring to affected customers, “Anthem said All impacted members will receive notice via mail which will advise them of the protections being offered to them as well as any next steps.” Unsurprisingly, phishers took that as an invitation to blast out variations on the scam pictured below, which spoofs Anthem and offers recipients a free year’s worth of credit monitoring services for those who click the embedded link.
http://krebsonsecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/anthemphish.jpgDon’t click or respond to these phishing emails.
Full Article
7th February 2015
Phishers and phone fraudsters are capitalizing on public concern over a massive data breach announced this week at health insurance provider Anthem in a bid to steal financial and personal data from consumers.
The flood of phishing scams was unleashed just hours after Anthem announced publicly that a “very sophisticated cyberattack” on its systems had compromised the Social Security information and other personal details on some 80 million Americans.
In a question on its FAQ page about whether it would be offering credit monitoring to affected customers, “Anthem said All impacted members will receive notice via mail which will advise them of the protections being offered to them as well as any next steps.” Unsurprisingly, phishers took that as an invitation to blast out variations on the scam pictured below, which spoofs Anthem and offers recipients a free year’s worth of credit monitoring services for those who click the embedded link.
http://krebsonsecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/anthemphish.jpgDon’t click or respond to these phishing emails.
Full Article
I spoke to Anthem directly, and they told me a letter via U.S. Postal Service will be sent to all members that have been compromised. They indicated do not reply via email or phone. Sit tight till you receive the letter with instructions to take to secure your data.
The following article is a on going update and feed back on the Anthem Breach
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The health insurance company is still trying to determine how many of its current and former customers and employees are impacted, but at this point in the investigation we know that the attackers gained access to names, medical IDs/social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, email addresses and employment information. Medical and payment card information doesn’t appear to be affected, Anthem said.
According to reports, the breach dates back to at least December 10, 2014 and remained undetected until late January when a database administrator noticed suspicious activity.
HITRUST, which has been working with Anthem on the breach investigation, noted that the attack appears to be the work of an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor. Mandiant, the security company called in to investigate the breach, said the attackers had used custom backdoors that are not publicly available.
It’s uncertain who is behind the Anthem hack attack, but the main suspect appears to be the Chinese government. A memo released recently by the FBI and sources close to the investigation suggest that it might be the Chinese state-sponsored group known as Deep Panda.
And the feedback begins…
full article
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Feedback Friday: Industry Reactions to Anthem Data Breach.
By Eduard Kovacs on February 06, 2015The health insurance company is still trying to determine how many of its current and former customers and employees are impacted, but at this point in the investigation we know that the attackers gained access to names, medical IDs/social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, email addresses and employment information. Medical and payment card information doesn’t appear to be affected, Anthem said.
According to reports, the breach dates back to at least December 10, 2014 and remained undetected until late January when a database administrator noticed suspicious activity.
HITRUST, which has been working with Anthem on the breach investigation, noted that the attack appears to be the work of an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor. Mandiant, the security company called in to investigate the breach, said the attackers had used custom backdoors that are not publicly available.
It’s uncertain who is behind the Anthem hack attack, but the main suspect appears to be the Chinese government. A memo released recently by the FBI and sources close to the investigation suggest that it might be the Chinese state-sponsored group known as Deep Panda.
And the feedback begins…
full article
Posted on 09 February 2015.It didn't take long for scammers to attempt to take advantage of the Anthem data breach, as phishing messages impersonating credit monitoring services supposedly offered for free by Anthem have been spotted as early as last Friday.
The scam email campaign targets both current and former Anthem members, an the company notified users not to fall for these emails that include a “click here” link for credit monitoring.
"Do not click on any links in email, do not reply the email or reach out to the senders in any way, do not supply any information on the website that may open, if you have clicked on a link in an email, and do not open any attachments that arrive with email," they warned in a press release.
The company has previously stated and now reiterated that affected individuals will be receiving their notification on how to enroll in credit monitoring and ID protection via mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. full article
+549th February 2015
Analysis of open source information on the cybercriminal infrastructure likely used to siphon 80 million Social Security numbers and other sensitive data from health insurance giant Anthem suggests the attackers may have first gained a foothold in April 2014, nine months before the company says it discovered the intrusion.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that security experts involved in the ongoing forensics investigation into the breach say the servers and attack tools used in the attack on Anthem bear the hallmark of a state-sponsored Chinese cyber espionage group known by a number of names, including “Deep Panda,” “Axiom,” Group 72,” and the “Shell_Crew,” to name but a few.
A Maltego transform published by CrowdStrike. The graphic is intended to illustrate some tools and Internet servers thought to be closely tied to a Chinese cyber espionage group that CrowdStrike calls “Deep Panda.”
Full Article
Analysis of open source information on the cybercriminal infrastructure likely used to siphon 80 million Social Security numbers and other sensitive data from health insurance giant Anthem suggests the attackers may have first gained a foothold in April 2014, nine months before the company says it discovered the intrusion.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that security experts involved in the ongoing forensics investigation into the breach say the servers and attack tools used in the attack on Anthem bear the hallmark of a state-sponsored Chinese cyber espionage group known by a number of names, including “Deep Panda,” “Axiom,” Group 72,” and the “Shell_Crew,” to name but a few.
A Maltego transform published by CrowdStrike. The graphic is intended to illustrate some tools and Internet servers thought to be closely tied to a Chinese cyber espionage group that CrowdStrike calls “Deep Panda.”
Full Article
The following article is a update:
Attorneys general in 10 U.S. states have hit health insurer Anthem for not quickly communicating directly with people affected by a hack of its IT system.
The officials want information and reassurances from the company within 24 hours.
"As the days pass with no direct communications from Anthem, our offices are receiving more and more communications from constituents expressing greater and greater frustration," wrote Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen in a letter Tuesday to Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish.
The hack could have exposed the personal information of as many as 80 million people, if not more, Jepsen said.
full article
U.S. states want Anthem to provide hack info quickly to customers.
Attorneys general in 10 U.S. states have hit health insurer Anthem for not quickly communicating directly with people affected by a hack of its IT system.
The officials want information and reassurances from the company within 24 hours.
"As the days pass with no direct communications from Anthem, our offices are receiving more and more communications from constituents expressing greater and greater frustration," wrote Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen in a letter Tuesday to Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish.
The hack could have exposed the personal information of as many as 80 million people, if not more, Jepsen said.
full article
+54Summary: The federal agency is cracking down on state-sponsored cyber-threat groups.
By Zack Whittaker for Zero Day | February 24, 2015
The FBI confirmed Tuesday it was "close" to discovering who is behind the Anthem health insurance hack.
But, the agency's cyber-criminal branch head Robert Anderson said at a briefing with reporters that he would not confirm it until the agency was "absolutely sure," according to one report.
Fingers have already been pointed at China, which has for years been accused of attacking US companies and consumers.
"I don't know if it's China or not," Anderson said, keeping tight-lipped.
Full Article
By Zack Whittaker for Zero Day | February 24, 2015
The FBI confirmed Tuesday it was "close" to discovering who is behind the Anthem health insurance hack.
But, the agency's cyber-criminal branch head Robert Anderson said at a briefing with reporters that he would not confirm it until the agency was "absolutely sure," according to one report.
Fingers have already been pointed at China, which has for years been accused of attacking US companies and consumers.
"I don't know if it's China or not," Anderson said, keeping tight-lipped.
Full Article
Anthem has just sent a email to me and my wife since we are enrolled in their program. They have provided us with 2 years free identity protection which is automatic as of the date of their email. We do have the option for a minimal fee upgrade if we wish with more features. However this company is top rated by the better business association so I'm comfortable with that.
The following article is a update:
************************************
The Anthem data breach may have exposed 78.8 million records, according to a more finely tuned estimate by the health insurance company, but Anthem is still investigating exactly how many records hackers extracted from a database.
Hackers accessed a database at Anthem that contained customer and employee records with names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and member IDs, the health insurance company said on Feb. 4. Some records included employment information and income levels, but no financial information was compromised, it said.
It marked one of the largest data breaches to affect the health care industry, adding to a string of recent attacks that have shaken large companies, including retailers Home Depot, Target and Michaels.
full article
************************************
Anthem now says 78.8M were affected by breach.
At least 14M records are incomplete, but they probably don't belong to Anthem members.
The Anthem data breach may have exposed 78.8 million records, according to a more finely tuned estimate by the health insurance company, but Anthem is still investigating exactly how many records hackers extracted from a database.
Hackers accessed a database at Anthem that contained customer and employee records with names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and member IDs, the health insurance company said on Feb. 4. Some records included employment information and income levels, but no financial information was compromised, it said.
It marked one of the largest data breaches to affect the health care industry, adding to a string of recent attacks that have shaken large companies, including retailers Home Depot, Target and Michaels.
full article
+54More information here for those who have Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans - Glad you're not on the Anthem hacker hit list? Not so fast – millions more affected
+62Hi Jasper!
It just keeps getting better and better! I have Blue Cross Blue Shield!!:@:@
It just keeps getting better and better! I have Blue Cross Blue Shield!!:@:@
I did freeze the three major credit agencies. Last week received a snail mail letter from Experian that my name was removed from preapproved credit offer mailing lists for five years. It can be done permanently if requested. It hadn't occurred to me that there are a lot of those preapproved credit card letters floating around, so I was not unhappy to receive the notification. Besides, less junk mail, which is a plus.
Just to add on what you have said I put a fraud alert on all 3 major credit bureau’s for 90 days I can extend if I wish no cost to this. Also I have received a email from Anthem I can enroll in the pro protection for 2 years no charge.
+62Hello Webrooters,
Since we have Blue Cross Blue Shield I also filled out a form from Anthem from there website, to which I'll be contacted by email for 2 years of protection. Thank goodness for the secuirty news here!!
Since we have Blue Cross Blue Shield I also filled out a form from Anthem from there website, to which I'll be contacted by email for 2 years of protection. Thank goodness for the secuirty news here!!
Windows Insider, iMac 2021 27 in i5 Retina 5, iMac OS Sequoia (15.4.2), Security: iPads, ALIENWARE 17R4, W10 Workstation, ALIENWARE 15 R6, W11, Webroot® SecureAnywhere™ Internet Security Complete (Android Samsung Galaxy Ultra Note 23, Webroot Beta Tester. Security
Won't Webroot caught this kind of attack.
+56This isn't malware that is on your computers, it's a company that people have given their private information to that has been hacked. Without details on the hack we can't really say whether Anthem using Webroot would or would not have protected them from this attack.
I landed here because of a newsletter, 'Community Despatch' ...Is that something new.?..Just asking 🙂
+56We've been doing the Dispatch for a while now (longer than I've been here at Webroot 🙂@ wrote:
I landed here because of a newsletter, 'Community Despatch' ...Is that something new.?..Just asking :)
+56Maybe the previous ones got caught in your spam filter 🙂
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